Sitting quietly in the salon chair getting my hair done, I receive a text from my son reading “Did you hear what happened in Paris?”
I search……
Horrified.
I flash back to my days growing up in St. Patrick’s Parish, hearing this beautiful hymn. As a small child, I could never have known where my life journey would take me. I could not have known the joys, the sorrows, the highs, the lows, the beauty and the tragedy I would have seen. However, even as a small child, this song resonated with me. The simplicity of “peace” took root in my soul far before I even understood what it meant for my life. For the world.
Watching the horrors and hearing the stories of yet another human tragedy in our world, I wonder where those who have inflicted so much pain and sorrow in the world learned their end was justified by any means they chose to act out on innocent life? Did no one ever teach them acceptance? Kindness? Love? All the years I sat mass listening to the word of God from the Old and New Testament, it never occurred to me the path to God was anything but one through Love and Peace.
My 17-year-old said he was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight. Not because he is so excited he went on another college tour today and he’s anxious thinking about what his future holds for him. Not because he’s relieved knowing it’s a 3 day weekend and he’s happy to sleep in another 2 days. Not because he’s a senior and he’s a few days closer to his High School graduation. Rather…..he looked traumatized by the sights and the stories of those killed by terrorists in Paris, France tonight. As a mother, those are words and feelings you never want your child to utter or feel.
Aristotle. The man died 322 BC. And how brilliant and timeless are his words? It is not enough to win a war; it’s more important to organize peace. For we know if we “win” one war, soon another will rise up in its place. Until we find the way toward peace. Organize peace. How can we do this?
I started a movement of sorts, I like to think, on peace. Strong. Peaceful. Women gathering together from afar, all bonded together exploring, searching, longing for a more peaceful inner self. I’m imagining these women and their powerful light radiating to others around them…..with peace. I’m envisioning these women teaching their friends and family the truth on finding peace within, as the only way to see peace outside ourselves. I’m praying these women are the beginning and the end for a world filled with more peace.
When I’m at a loss for how to explain to my children, to others around me, or even myself, how evil can exist in our world…..not necessarily finding comfort in the traditional and trite explanations, I find myself increasingly retreating into the silence of my thoughts and prayer for understanding. And although I don’t know the “why”, I do believe I know the response is always, always, always to pray for peace in our hearts, and in our world.
For those in affected in Paris tonight, my heart aches for all of you. When words cannot take away the pain, all I can do is pray for peace, in your hearts, and in the hearts of all the world for a day when we can one day live in a world filled with PEACE.
Peace……
peaceinthejourney 